Drexel University Admission Requirements for International Students 2027: Acceptance Rate, Tuition, Scholarships and Deadlines

Drexel University admission requirements for international students are straightforward: the Common App or the Coalition Application with Scoir, a 250 to 650 word essay, official transcripts from grade 9 onward, one counselor recommendation, a $65 fee and an English test unless you qualify for a waiver. SAT and ACT scores are optional under Drexel’s “No Harm” policy. Drexel admitted 69.9% of first-year applicants for fall 2025 (26,583 of 38,030), so the bar to get in is lower than at most universities in this series. Paying for it is harder.

The 2026-27 on-campus cost of attendance is $88,156. Every international applicant is automatically considered for Drexel Merit scholarships of $10,000 to $35,000 a year, and international students can also file the CSS Profile for institutional need-based aid. For fall 2027 entry, Early Decision and Early Action close on 15 November 2026 and Regular Decision on 15 January 2027. I checked all of this on Drexel’s own pages on 29 October 2026.

Drexel ranking and key numbers

Drexel acceptance rate and class profile

The figures below come from Drexel’s Office of Institutional Research factbook for 2025-26, which reports first-time, full-time first-years. Drexel’s published data does not split applicants and admits by citizenship, so there is no official international acceptance rate.

The admit rate fell by almost ten points in 2025, and only about 7% of admitted students enrolled. Drexel admits many more students than it expects to come, so a strong transcript usually gets you in. For enrolled fall 2025 students who sent scores, the middle 50% SAT range was 1260 to 1430 and the ACT range was 28 to 33.

Drexel tuition for international students (2026-27)

International undergraduates pay the same tuition as everyone else. Drexel’s 2026-27 estimate for a full-time first-year living on campus covers three academic quarters:

The $60 loan fee applies only to federal borrowers, which international students are not. Health insurance is not in this table; Drexel points international students to a separate international costs page. In later years you are not billed tuition during co-op quarters, though fees and possibly housing still apply. The five-year, three-co-op option costs the same in tuition as the four-year programmes, according to Drexel.

Drexel scholarships for international students

Drexel says all international students are considered for merit aid automatically, with no separate form. The decision is based on what you submit with your application, and you hear about it with your admission offer.

Applying Early Decision or Early Action raises the floor of the Drexel Merit award from $10,000 to $20,000 a year. Drexel does not say whether need-based aid for international students is limited or need-aware, and it does not promise to meet full need. Its average grant aid for fall 2025 first-years was $40,814, but that figure includes US federal and state grants that international students cannot get.

Drexel admission requirements for international students

Drexel treats anyone who is not a US citizen or green card holder as an international applicant. The checklist:

1. Application: the Common Application or the Coalition Application with Scoir. You can name a first and second choice major, or choose First-Year Exploratory Studies.
2. Fee: $65, non-refundable. Fee waivers can be requested through either application on grounds of financial hardship.
3. Essay: 250 to 650 words, submitted through the application. Drexel does not accept emailed or paper essays.
4. Transcripts: official records sent by each school, covering grades 9 to 11 plus any grade 12 work in progress, with a notarized English translation if needed. The grade 9 transcript is compulsory even if your country counts it as junior secondary school.
5. Recommendation: one letter from a school counselor.
6. English proficiency: an approved test, unless you meet a waiver (below).
7. Portfolio or writing supplement: only for certain majors (below).
8. Proof of funding: needed for the I-20 or DS-2019 after admission. Pay from a campus job cannot count as a funding source.

Use your full legal name, exactly as it appears in your passport, on every document. Drexel says a mismatch causes processing problems later.

Testing policy

Under the No Harm Test-Optional policy, Drexel ignores scores that would hurt you, and choosing not to send scores does not affect merit scholarships. Drexel takes your highest SAT score from each sitting of the same version and your highest ACT section scores across dates. You can change your choice in the Discover Drexel portal. Scores are required for the BA/BS+MD and BS+OD Early Assurance programmes. Drexel’s SAT and TOEFL code is 2194.

English requirements

Drexel accepts the TOEFL iBT, TOEFL Essentials, IELTS, PTE, the Duolingo English Test and Cambridge C1 Advanced or C2 Proficiency. It does not publish minimum scores for direct admission. It does publish the score ranges for its International Gateway foundation year, which tells you where the lower edge sits:

Gateway is a year of academic and English courses that leads straight into your Drexel major once you complete it; applications for fall entry are due 15 July. Drexel says applicants with higher scores should apply for direct admission instead.

You do not need a test if English is your first language, if you completed at least three full years of high school taught in English, or if you scored 600 or more on SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing or 27 or more on ACT English. Students from English-medium schools in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and similar systems usually fit the second rule, although Drexel still “strongly recommends” sending a TOEFL, IELTS or PTE score. If your scores are strong, send them.

Majors with extra requirements

• Portfolio required: Animation and Visual Effects, Architectural Studies, Architecture, Fashion Design, Game Design and Production, Graphic Design, Photography, and Music Industry (Recording Arts and Music Production). Send 8 to 12 recent works through Discover Drexel.
• Writing supplement (500 words maximum): Architectural Studies, Architecture and Music Industry.
• Dance: live or video audition.
• BA/BS+MD Early Assurance: College of Medicine supplemental application, SAT or ACT, and two letters (counselor and science teacher), all by 15 November.
• Enrichment applications: the Honors Program, BS+MS in Psychology, STAR and others are applied for through the Enrichment and Scholarship Applications tab in Discover Drexel after you apply.

Drexel deadlines for fall 2027

Drexel’s deadline page gives days without a year, so the years above follow the fall 2027 cycle. Deadlines are received-by dates, not postmark dates. Some older Drexel brochures show 1 November for early plans; the current page says 15 November. ED and EA applicants can be admitted, deferred to Regular Decision, waitlisted or denied. Drexel also runs a winter-entry first-year intake; the 2026 round closed on 1 October 2026, so the next one is due 1 October 2027.

How to write your Drexel essay

Most applicants write only the Common App or Coalition essay; Drexel has no general supplemental question. That puts more weight on one essay, and since merit aid is decided from the same file, the essay also counts toward your scholarship.

• Drexel’s whole model is learning by working. An essay about applying something you learned outside the classroom fits it well.
• Be specific about your own part. “We organised” says less than “I wrote the schedule and called 40 parents.”
• If you apply to Architecture or Music Industry, the 500-word supplement asks how your experiences prepare you for the major. Name the experiences and say what you want to do with the degree.
• Keep it inside 650 words. The application will not take more.

A short sample opening, for illustration only:

“My uncle’s welding shop had one rule: you do not touch the machine until you have swept the floor for a month. I swept for five weeks. In the sixth week he handed me a mask and a broken gate.”

What happens after you apply

1. Discover Drexel portal: you get access after submitting. It shows only documents that have been processed, so a missing item may simply still be in the queue.
2. Extra applications: upload portfolios and enrichment or honors applications there.
3. Decision and merit award: mid-December for early plans and by 1 April for Regular Decision. The merit award arrives with the admission offer.
4. Deposit: by 15 January for Early Decision or 1 May for the other plans. ED admits must withdraw their other applications.
5. I-20: submit your financial documents to International Students and Scholars Services as soon as you confirm.
6. Visa: pay the SEVIS fee and book your F-1 interview.

Common mistakes international applicants make

• Forgetting the grade 9 transcript. Drexel will not decide without it.
• Applying Regular Decision when you need money. The merit floor drops from $20,000 to $10,000 a year.
• Skipping the CSS Profile because merit is automatic. Need-based aid needs the Profile.
• Choosing the three-co-op option without checking OPT. If all three co-ops are full time in the US, they can use up your post-study work time. Drexel notes students often take one co-op part time or abroad.
• Planning to pay fees with a campus job. You can work up to 20 hours a week on campus, but Drexel says the pay usually covers living costs, not tuition.

Costs Drexel scholarships will not cover

• Housing and food, about $19,398 in the first year.
• Health insurance, which is not in the cost table.
• Flights, the visa fee and the SEVIS fee.
• Moving costs if your co-op is in another city.
• A fifth year of fees and living costs if you choose the three-co-op route.

Majors, co-op and campus life at Drexel

Drexel is best known for its co-op programme, which alternates study terms with full-time work periods. You can graduate in four years with one co-op or in five years with three. For F-1 students these count as Curricular Practical Training. Its strongest areas include engineering, computing and informatics, business (LeBow College), nursing and health professions, and design and media (Westphal College).

The main campus is in University City, West Philadelphia, next to the University of Pennsylvania and a short train ride from Center City. Philadelphia is a large city with a big health care and university sector, and living costs are lower than in New York or Boston, which helps when you are paying rent on a co-op wage.

Drexel graduate admissions for international students

Graduate applications go through Drexel’s central graduate admissions office, and each college sets its own requirements. The College of Engineering asks for at least TOEFL 90 or IELTS 6.5 and makes the GRE optional for all its graduate programmes. Doctoral applicants are reviewed for full or partial funding (assistantships, fellowships and tuition support) after admission, depending on how well they match faculty research; master’s funding is not described.

Drexel compared with similar universities

If you want another Pennsylvania option, read our guides to Lehigh and, across the street from Drexel, Penn.

Who should apply to Drexel

Drexel suits students who want work experience built into the degree, especially in engineering, computing, business, health and design, and who have solid grades even if they are not at the very top of their class. Apply early to get the higher merit floor. A $35,000 award still leaves more than $50,000 a year to find, so families who cannot cover that should also apply to colleges with full-need aid such as Yale, Duke or Amherst, and check our list of US scholarships for international students.

FAQ on Drexel admission requirements for international students

What is Drexel’s acceptance rate?

Drexel admitted 26,583 of 38,030 first-year applicants for fall 2025, an admit rate of 69.9%. It does not publish a separate rate for international applicants.

Does Drexel give scholarships to international students?

Yes. Every international applicant is considered automatically for Drexel Merit awards of $20,000 to $35,000 a year (early plans) or $10,000 to $35,000 (Regular Decision), and you can file the CSS Profile for need-based aid.

What IELTS score does Drexel require?

Drexel does not publish a minimum IELTS for direct admission. Its International Gateway foundation year takes IELTS 5.0 to 6.0+, and three years of English-medium high school can waive the test.

How much is Drexel tuition for international students?

Tuition for 2026-27 is $63,078, and the full on-campus cost of attendance is $88,156 before health insurance.

Sources and updates

Checked on 29 October 2026 against Drexel’s first-year application instructions, the first-year deadlines page, the international applicant FAQ, the standardized testing policy, the 2026-27 undergraduate cost of attendance, the Drexel Central undergraduate scholarships page, the tuition and aid overview, the first-year student profile, the Institutional Research 2025-26 admissions factbook, the English Language Center’s International Gateway admission criteria and the College of Engineering doctoral admissions page. The U.S. News 2027 rank comes from Fox 29’s report on the 2027 edition. We will add an international acceptance rate if Drexel publishes one.

Jude Chinecherem

I am Jude Chinecherem, a final-year MBBS student at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. I know what it feels like to want an education your family cannot afford. When my parents could not pay for my schooling, I had to learn how to find scholarships and work the system out on my own, with nobody to guide me. I came out the other side, and now I share everything I learned so the next student does not have to figure it out alone. This is the advice I wish someone had given me back then.